Motorola: Very slow charger

[dabster]

Stock charger supplied with my Motorola Fire Xt is a 5V 550mAh micro USB charges. It is very slow and takes almost 3.5 hours to charge phone.

1. Is this a normal duration. I guess so with ratings.

2. Do we have a fast charger option from motorola or third Party - does such fast charger have any impact on battery life ? which brand etc.

 

[PurusH]

Stock charger supplied with my Motorola Fire Xt is a 5V 550mAh micro USB charges. It is very slow and takes almost 3.5 hours to charge phone.

1. Is this a normal duration. I guess so with ratings.

2. Do we have a fast charger option from motorola or third Party - does such fast charger have any impact on battery life ? which brand etc.

I had read about Nokia's Fast micro USB Charger. Google around for Motorola, in case, if there is any availability.

 

[dabster]

Also wondering if these fast chargers are fine for this motorola Model..

 

[AcceleratorX]

You can use any charger for your phone provided that the connection jack is the same and the voltage is the same as your existing charger.

A Nokia "fast-charge" 800mAh 5V charger will work for your Motorola if the connection cord is the same.

With MicroUSB, since the cable itself is standardized, there are no more device specific parameters. I use my Samsung charger all the time on LG and Nokia phones. There is no ill-effect as long as the voltages are the same. When the voltages are different, however, problems will arise due to heat dissipation or overcurrent drawing.

 

[dabster]

^Thanks AcceleratorX.

My concern about this comes as when I used a dell streak charger rated to same 5v but 1A making my phone heat a lot. So my concern is if this would degrade the battery faster.. ? and due same reason I should stick to 550mAh default charger..

 

[Soumik]

In my opinion stick to the default charger.. Just put it to charge everyday while having dinner or something... 3.5 Hours is too much though. It should take max 2 hours. You can call the Motorola service center and verify your charging time. I am suspecting something wrong with your charger. 3.5 hours is just too much!!!

 

[AcceleratorX]

^Thanks AcceleratorX.

My concern about this comes as when I used a dell streak charger rated to same 5v but 1A making my phone heat a lot. So my concern is if this would degrade the battery faster.. ? and due same reason I should stick to 550mAh default charger..

The electrical supply of 5V, 1A will not cause a problem but the heating may. If you want a faster charge I recommend sticking to chargers that are rated for ~25-30% more current than your existing charger. In your case the current offered is nearly double, which is why heat is produced when the "capacitor" (it's not exactly a capacitor but let's consider it that way) is unable to charge fast enough.

If it is heating to what you consider as being dangerous levels, then use the default charger or a charger rated upto 800mAh. A little bit of heat, however, will not damage the phone or battery.

(I think a Samsung 0.7A 5V charger, supplied with the Wave II/III, should work well for your phone).

EDIT: I think batteries also have voltage and current ratings. For certain phones, this current rating is fixed, i.e. regardless of current offered by the charger, they will draw a fixed amount of current. If you have observed faster charging with a different charger, then this is not the case with your phone. However, you will need to experiment with chargers to see exactly how much your phone draws. Anything more than that value will cause it to heat since the extra current turns into power loss i.e. heat.

 

[rickyponting]

Totally agreed that battery charging capacity of Motorola phone is very slow and I too have faced such problems. After having used various products I have come to the conclusion that Sony-ericsson is the best as far as battery life and quick charging is concerned.

 

[dabster]

This is still a issue and time consuming :/ so on search able to find this Blackberry charger which seemingly has out of 700mA - And Should be able to fast charge (40% faster).
here: USB PLUG WALL POWER CHARGER FOR BLACKBERRY Micro & Mini Pin Chargers | eBay

the spec look like this:
Output: DC 5.0-6.5V 0.5-1A
RIM PART NO: HDW-24481-0010

Anyhow I am trying to find if its original Blackberry or local chinese make. Any ideas what this 5.0V-6.5V output means ? the stock charger is fixed 5.0V 550mA, here multiple voltage value looks a little not comforting.
Funny thing is Blackberry site says this part no is is a 5.0V 750mA constant fixed voltage charger. Any thoughts ?

 

[sky770]

Hi dabster,

I am planning to buy this mobile too

- what all problems are you facing?? can u plz post the pros/cons you found out while using this phone..moto fire xt??

- And, while googling about this phone I have read some negative reviews of the same prob. you're having but many people have said that updating your phone from factory installed 2.3.4 to updated 2.3.5 can resolve battery backup issues among many others. Update is provided using motorola updater.

- Also, I have heard about the android basic button non-responsiveness issue. What about it? are they really un-responsive sometimes? or all the time?

- How is the screen quality? i read that its low for a 3.5" screen? the 165pixels per inch is quite low for this kind of phone.

Funny thing is that I compared specs of Samsung galaxy ace with those of fire xt on gsm-arena website and they are same!!! still such negative reviews about fire xt.

Please clear my thoughts

Waiting patiently..plz reply to all my queries.

 

[dabster]

Hi dabster,

I am planning to buy this mobile too

- what all problems are you facing?? can u plz post the pros/cons you found out while using this phone..moto fire xt??

- And, while googling about this phone I have read some negative reviews of the same prob. you're having but many people have said that updating your phone from factory installed 2.3.4 to updated 2.3.5 can resolve battery backup issues among many others. Update is provided using motorola updater.

- Also, I have heard about the android basic button non-responsiveness issue. What about it? are they really un-responsive sometimes? or all the time?

- How is the screen quality? i read that its low for a 3.5" screen? the 165pixels per inch is quite low for this kind of phone.

Funny thing is that I compared specs of Samsung galaxy ace with those of fire xt on gsm-arena website and they are same!!! still such negative reviews about fire xt.

Please clear my thoughts

Waiting patiently..plz reply to all my queries.

This is great phone and no other phone beats this at this price point(Saholic has this for 9.5k)
Screen is just ok. HTC and Samsung offerings have better screen obviously at higher price point. I use kindle app easily with much lower brightness setting and wallah this serves my purpose. Not fond of very bright shiny screens..

Battery backup is actually great and that's why it was taking long time on stock charger . its a 1540mAh rated battery. Gives a 2 day backup on no edge/3G data tarnsfer - 20% brightness - with moderate call usage + wifi access at times. I bought a local higher rated 850mA Charger and slow charging isn't a problem for me. mine was on default 2.3.5 so not aware of any issues with 2.3.4.

My other reason of buying Fire XT, I didn't like the all boxy shape on galaxy ace.
if your budget is lil higher then have a look on Ace+ too.

Cheers/